On 12th and 13th September 2026, Midland residents joined representatives of PETA outside the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas, US, to protest against the use of an elephant at the museum’s annual September Fest. The activists handed out literature and spoke with visitors at the gate, alleging that Okha, a 56-year-old elephant, was being mistreated while attendees rode her.
PETA says Okha is now struggling to move. A ride on Saturday cost $20, and she was seen carrying groups of up to four humans, including adults and children, on her back. The average lifespan of Asian elephants is 55-70 years.
Marnie Chambless, PETA Campaigns Tour Specialist, who said she travelled from Georgia to West Texas to speak for Okha, said, “So often they [performance elephants] are forced to do so under the threat of punishment… They [elephant trainers] use sharp steel-tipped bull hooks to do that, as well as constant confinement and isolation that break the elephants down emotionally and psychologically… She had two companions with her for the majority of her life, but in 2024, Brian [Okha’s owner] actually did surrender them to sanctuary, but left her behind.”
Amanda Fortino, Midland resident, said, “I am morally opposed to using animals for entertainment in this way, especially this elephant in particular, being as elderly as she is and being captured in the wild as a baby… So, I’m out here just help raise awareness.” She stood with PETA at the gate after receiving an alert email from the group, which she had signed up to receive in case an animal in her area needed help.
Okha is said to have been taken from her family in India more than 50 years ago and lives in isolation between performances. PETA says the individual who keeps her captive lives in Florida and tours with her to bookings in states where such entertainment is still legal. Elephant entertainment is banned in California, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, New Jersey, and Hawaii, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, but it is still allowed in Texas.
PETA hopes Okha will be sent to a sanctuary where other elephants live, with no more performances, so she can spend her last years there.
